A short Extraordinary General Meeting of the Railway Development Society Ltd, was held on Saturday 2 November 2013 in Oxford (at the autumn conference).

The purpose of the EGM was to approve changes to the Memorandum and Articles of Association to allow for electronic communication, electronic ballots and consequent changes.

The special resolution concerned only documents that Railfuture was legally obliged to send to its members (e.g. the annual accounts and AGM notice) – distribution of Railwatch, branch newsletters, and other literature was not included.

There is no intention of discontinuing paper-based communications or ballots, and paper-based communications and ballots will remain the default. Members are now able choose if they so wish, to ‘opt in’ to receiving electronic communications and to participate in electronic ballots.

It is the view of the Board that using paper-based ballots, with consequent cost of postage, etc., can act as a disincentive to some members to participate in the democratic process. Thus, offering a choice will broaden the level of participation in society affairs.

Printed copies of the EGM Agenda and the wording of the Special Resolution were sent to all eligible members with their copy of Railwatch.

Electronic copies of the EGM Agenda with Special Resolution, Existing Memorandum and Articles of Association, and Draft (revised) Memorandum and Articles of Association are available by clicking on View or download below:

View or download Memorandum and Articles of Association dated May 2010 registered with Companies House (pdf 143kB)

View or download Draft November 2013 Memorandum and Articles of Association for approval (pdf 630kB)

View or download Current Memorandum and Articles of Association dated May 2016 registered with Companies House (pdf 130kB)

The outcome of the vote on the amendments to Memorandum and Articles of Association were as follows:

For the motion: 243 (incl 138 by proxy)

Against the motion: 5 (incl 4 by proxy)

Abstentions: 2

The EGM therefore approved the proposed draft Articles to support correspondence by electronic means and online voting, which has been available to members each year since 2014. The articles have been revised on subsequent occasions (they will be changed again on 1st January 2018).

Railfuture has now operated electronic voting (as an optional alternative to postal ballots) each year since 2014 and the majority of members now choose to vote electronically.